Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The Data Science Lab is a live weekly call. Register at pos.it/dslab! Discord invites go out each week on lives calls. We'd love to have you!
The Lab is an open, messy space for learning and asking questions. Think of it like pair coding with a friend or two. Learn something new, and share what you know to help others grow.
On this call, Libby Heeren is joined by Sara Altman who walks through using Posit's AI assistants to analyze data, including a sneak peek at Posit Assistant, and Simon Couch drops by to give us a demo of the reviewer package! Together, Sara and Simon author the Posit AI Newsletter, the best place to stay up-to-date with all the cool tools and advice on staying an informed and level-headed AI user.
Hosting crew from Posit: Libby Heeren, Isabella Velasquez, Sara Altman, Simon Couch
Sara's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sara-altman.bsky.social
Sara's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarakaltman
Sara's GitHub: github.com/skaltman
Posit AI Newsletter by Sara and Simon: posit.co/blog/?category=roundups
Resources from the hosts and chat:
🔗 Positron IDE → positron.posit.co
🔗 Databot Extension → positron.posit.co/databot.html
🔗 Getting started with Positron Assistant → positron.posit.co/assistant-getting-started.html
🔗 Posit Assistant (Private Beta) → https://posit-ai-beta.share.connect.posit.cloud/
🔗 Reviewer Package (by Simon Couch) → github.com/simonpcouch/reviewer
🔗 ellmer Package → elmer.tidyverse.org
🔗 chatlas Package → github.com/posit-dev/chatlas
🔗 Read the Posit AI Newsletter → posit.co/blog/?category=roundups
🔗 Sign up to get the Posit AI Newsletter → http://pos.it/ai-news
🔗 Simon's blog post about local LLMs not quite being ready for primetime → posit.co/blog/local-models-are-not-there-yet
🔗 Join the waitlist for Posit AI in RStudio → posit.co/products/ai
🔗 Posit AI Known Issues & FAQs → https://posit-ai-beta.share.connect.posit.cloud/#frequently-asked-questions-faqs
🔗 Blog post from Simon and Sara about Privacy and LLMs → posit.co/blog/trust-llm-tools
🔗 DS Lab YouTube playlist → youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9HYL-VRX0oSeWeMEGQt0id7adYQXebhT&si=7tmU6EAJpO5S7GBh
► Subscribe to Our Channel Here: bit.ly/2TzgcOu
Follow Us Here:
Website: posit.co
The Lab: https://pos.it/dslab
Hangout: https://pos.it/dsh
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/posit-software
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/posit.co
Thanks for learning with us! 💛
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
07:23 "Would you mind real quick just briefly explaining the differences between Positron Assistant and Databot?"
15:01 "Is there any way to configure reasoning efforts when signing in with GitHub Copilot?"
15:49 "Does DataBot already support other providers beyond Cloud?"
20:36 "What is the cases with monetary penalty in the console output?"
22:14 "Do you happen to know if the column names of the dataset are very, very messy?"
23:18 "Can you add skills to DataBot?"
26:36 "This code isn't being saved anywhere. So where does it go?"
27:38 "There a way to know what all the slash commands are?"
28:51 Requesting Databot to use the namespace operator
33:58 "Is there a way to search within that Databot pane?"
39:34 "Have you noticed any time differences with how quickly things run-in RStudio versus Positron?"
40:33 "What happens if you open that URL that it mentions at the bottom in your browser?"
40:50 Clarifying the difference between Posit Assistant and Positron Assistant
43:18 "What is the typical token burn rate?"
53:31 "Is this on CRAN and working in both Positron and RStudio?"
The Data Science Lab is a live weekly call. Register at pos.it/dslab! Discord invites go out each week on lives calls. We'd love to have you!
The Lab is an open, messy space for learning and asking questions. Think of it like pair coding with a friend or two. Learn something new, and share what you know to help others grow.
On this call, Libby Heeren is joined by Sara Altman who walks through using Posit's AI assistants to analyze data, including a sneak peek at Posit Assistant, and Simon Couch drops by to give us a demo of the reviewer package! Together, Sara and Simon author the Posit AI Newsletter, the best place to stay up-to-date with all the cool tools and advice on staying an informed and level-headed AI user.
Hosting crew from Posit: Libby Heeren, Isabella Velasquez, Sara Altman, Simon Couch
Sara's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sara-altman.bsky.social
Sara's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarakaltman
Sara's GitHub: github.com/skaltman
Posit AI Newsletter by Sara and Simon: posit.co/blog/?category=roundups
Resources from the hosts and chat:
🔗 Positron IDE → positron.posit.co
🔗 Databot Extension → positron.posit.co/databot.html
🔗 Getting started with Positron Assistant → positron.posit.co/assistant-getting-started.html
🔗 Posit Assistant (Private Beta) → https://posit-ai-beta.share.connect.posit.cloud/
🔗 Reviewer Package (by Simon Couch) → github.com/simonpcouch/reviewer
🔗 ellmer Package → elmer.tidyverse.org
🔗 chatlas Package → github.com/posit-dev/chatlas
🔗 Read the Posit AI Newsletter → posit.co/blog/?category=roundups
🔗 Sign up to get the Posit AI Newsletter → http://pos.it/ai-news
🔗 Simon's blog post about local LLMs not quite being ready for primetime → posit.co/blog/local-models-are-not-there-yet
🔗 Join the waitlist for Posit AI in RStudio → posit.co/products/ai
🔗 Posit AI Known Issues & FAQs → https://posit-ai-beta.share.connect.posit.cloud/#frequently-asked-questions-faqs
🔗 Blog post from Simon and Sara about Privacy and LLMs → posit.co/blog/trust-llm-tools
🔗 DS Lab YouTube playlist → youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9HYL-VRX0oSeWeMEGQt0id7adYQXebhT&si=7tmU6EAJpO5S7GBh
► Subscribe to Our Channel Here: bit.ly/2TzgcOu
Follow Us Here:
Website: posit.co
The Lab: https://pos.it/dslab
Hangout: https://pos.it/dsh
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/posit-software
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/posit.co
Thanks for learning with us! 💛
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
07:23 "Would you mind real quick just briefly explaining the differences between Positron Assistant and Databot?"
15:01 "Is there any way to configure reasoning efforts when signing in with GitHub Copilot?"
15:49 "Does DataBot already support other providers beyond Cloud?"
20:36 "What is the cases with monetary penalty in the console output?"
22:14 "Do you happen to know if the column names of the dataset are very, very messy?"
23:18 "Can you add skills to DataBot?"
26:36 "This code isn't being saved anywhere. So where does it go?"
27:38 "There a way to know what all the slash commands are?"
28:51 Requesting Databot to use the namespace operator
33:58 "Is there a way to search within that Databot pane?"
39:34 "Have you noticed any time differences with how quickly things run-in RStudio versus Positron?"
40:33 "What happens if you open that URL that it mentions at the bottom in your browser?"
40:50 Clarifying the difference between Posit Assistant and Positron Assistant
43:18 "What is the typical token burn rate?"
53:31 "Is this on CRAN and working in both Positron and RStudio?"
